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''Vedi'' () is the sacrificial
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
in the Vedic religion. Such altars were an elevated outdoor enclosure, generally strewed with Kusha grass, and having receptacles for the
sacrificial fire Worship or deification of fire (also pyrodulia, pyrolatry or pyrolatria), or fire rituals, religious rituals centred on a fire, are known from various religions. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic. Religi ...
; it was of various shapes, but usually narrow in the middle. They were used in various types of
Yajna In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, Éd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedas, Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature ...
rituals, of which the lengthiest was the ''
agnicayana The Agnicayana ('; ) or Athirathram () is a category of advanced Śrauta rituals. After one has established the routine of the twice-daily routine of Agnihotra offerings and biweekly ''darśa-purna-masa'' offerings (Full and New Moon rites), ...
'', lasting twelve days. In Vedic times, offerings, often including animals, were burnt in the fire, and fully consumed by it. This contrasts with modern Hindu offerings to gods, which are all vegetable, and are preserved to be consumed by the devotees (which was also the case in other religions, such as
ancient Greek religion Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and Greek mythology, mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and Cult (religious practice), cult practices. The application of the modern concept ...
). Fire altars remain part of the rituals in some Hindu festivals and rites of passage; in particular circling around a sacred fire ('' saptapadi'') remains an essential part of
Hindu wedding A Hindu wedding, also known as (, ) in Hindi, () in Marathi, () in Bhojpuri, () in Bengali, () or () in Odia, () in Tamil, () in Telugu, () in Kannada, and ''kalyanam'' (, ; ) in Malayalam and other languages, is the traditiona ...
s. Although
Agni Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-DikpÄla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...
, the Vedic god of fire, has an important place in the
mandala A mandala (, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid ...
setting out the plan in
Hindu temple architecture Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many different styles, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''Garbhagriha, garbha griha'' or womb-ch ...
, in the south-east part of the temple, fire altars are not now a normal part of regular
Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...
rituals. Modern fire sacrifices are covered at Homa rituals.


Types

As deduced from descriptions in ancient texts, the types of vedi were: *, the great or entire altar *, the northern altar made for the sacred fire () *, a sort of subordinate or side-altar, generally a heap of earth covered with sand on which the fire is placed *, an altar shaped like a trough (Shulbas. 3.216) *, a second altar at the Soma sacrifice The was in the shape of a
falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...
( 'piled up in the shape of the bird Alaja'), and was piled up with bricks in the
Agnicayana The Agnicayana ('; ) or Athirathram () is a category of advanced Śrauta rituals. After one has established the routine of the twice-daily routine of Agnihotra offerings and biweekly ''darśa-purna-masa'' offerings (Full and New Moon rites), ...
ritual. Vedic altars are described in the circum-Vedic texts dealing with
Kalpa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu, Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club r ...
(the proper performance of sacrifice), notably the
Satapatha Brahmana The Shatapatha Brahmana (, , abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Åšukla Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the Vedas), it ...
, and the
Sulbasutras The ''Shulva Sutras'' or ''ÅšulbasÅ«tras'' (Sanskrit: शà¥à¤²à¥à¤¬à¤¸à¥‚तà¥à¤°; ': "string, cord, rope") are sutra texts belonging to the Åšrauta ritual and containing geometry related to fire-altar construction. Purpose and origins Th ...
say that the
Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋचà¥, ऋचà¥, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sÅ«ktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
corresponds to an altar of mantras. Fire altars are already mentioned in the Rigveda. According to
Taittiriya Samhita The ''Taittirīya Shakha'' (Sanskrit, loosely meaning 'Branch or School of the sage Tittiri'), is a ''shakha'' (i.e. 'branch', 'school', or rescension) of the Krishna (black) Yajurveda. The Taittiriyas are themselves divided into numerous sub-s ...
5.2.3., they are made of twenty-one bricks. In ÅšBM 10.4.3.14-20, the altar is made of 396 (360 + 36) (special) bricks, and of 10,800 (ordinary) bricks. 10,701 bricks belong to the altar, 78 to the hearths and 21 to the . Around the altar are 360 stones (261 around , 78 around , 21 around ). ÅšBM 10.3.1. describes that the altar is symbolically built with ''gayatri'' (24 syllables), (breath, 28 syllables), (mind, 40 syllables), ''
tristubh ''Trishtubh'' (, , IAST: ) is a Vedic metre of 44 syllables (four padas of eleven syllables each), or any hymn composed in this metre. It is the most prevalent metre of the Rigveda, accounting for roughly 40% of its verses. The Trishtubh pada con ...
'' (ear, 44 syllables), (awakening) (48 syllables) and generative breath. The altar's height is to the knees, the '''s'' to the navel and the '''s'' to a man's height.


Agnicayana

In the Agnicayana ritual, the (great altar) has a length of 24 '' prakrama'' in the east, 30 in the west and 36 in the north and south. Inside the , an altar is placed. In the smaller ritual space to the west of the (, ), three altars are placed: the (earth, west), (sky, east) and (or , southwest). The round and the square have the same area. The
Squaring the circle Squaring the circle is a problem in geometry first proposed in Greek mathematics. It is the challenge of constructing a square (geometry), square with the area of a circle, area of a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with a ...
problem was also investigated because of such ritualistic considerations. The altar has five layers (), representing earth, space and the sky.


Archaeology

The earliest falcon-shaped vedi are dated to the period of Kuninda Kingdom, between 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE, examples being discovered at Purola,
Uttarkashi Uttarkashi is a town and the headquarters of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India. Geography Uttarkashi is located at . It has an average elevation of . Demographics India census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is t ...
, and
Kosambi Kosambi (Pali) or Kaushambi (Sanskrit) was an ancient city in India, characterized by its importance as a trading center along the Ganges Plain and its status as the capital of the Vatsa Kingdom, one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was loca ...
, Kaushambi.


See also

*
Agiary A fire temple (; ) is a place of worship for Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrians. In Zoroastrian doctrine, ''atar'' and ''aban'' (fire and water) are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies sregarded as the bas ...
*
Yajna In Hinduism, ''Yajna'' or ''Yagna'' (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, Éd͡ʒɲə ) also known as Hawan, is a ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedas, Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature ...


Notes


References

*
Subhash Kak Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist and historical revisionist. He is the Regents Professor of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, an honorary visiting professor of engineering at Jawaharla ...
. ''Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy''. In ''Astronomy across cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy'',
Helaine Selin Helaine Selin (born 1946) is an American librarian, historian of science, author and book editor. Career Selin attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from SUNY Albany. She was a Peace Corps ...
(ed), Kluwer, 2000 *Subhash Kak, ''The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda'', Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000, . *Sen, S.N., and A.K. Bag. 1983. ''The Sulbasutras''. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy. *
Frits Staal Johan Frederik "Frits" Staal (3 November 1930 – 19 February 2012) was the department founder and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and South/Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Staal specialized in the study of Ved ...
, ''Agni, the Vedic ritual of the fire altar'' (1983).


External links

* *http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/george/vedi.html {{Hinduism-stub Vedas Hindu architecture Hindu temple architecture Altars Yajna